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6 teaching ideas

If your class is looking a bit sleepy, try this for a quick pick-me-up.

Divide the class into two groups. Ask them to line up from tallest to smallest. You can do this easily through gestures. Students quickly get the idea that there’s some kind of comparison going on.

Write on the board:

Student 1 is taller than student 2 (using students’ real names!)

Tell the groups that there will be a race to see which group can rearrange themselves first (by height, age, etc.)
Use your imagination to find ways to rearrange groups. These activities are done while standing up which is an excellent way to vary the pace of the class.

When trying to teach young kids whether to use the comparative or superlative form, tell them to use the comparative to compare two items because -er has two letters… and to use the superlative form to compare three or more items because -est has three letters!

Who is the most important person in your life?
What is the most expensive thing you have ever bought?
What is the funniest TV show?…

Then they stand up and circulate asking their classmates the questions. Students answer using complete sentences, for example:

My laptop computer is the most important thing I have ever bought.

The person asking the question then notes the answer using only the person’s name and the keyword in the answer, for example:

Hector / laptop.

Then for homework they write the answers using complete sentences:

The most expensive thing Hector has ever bought is his laptop computer.

For additional HW I have them write a paragraph related to one of their own questions. They talk about their paragraph as a warm up activity in the following lesson. This gives them reading, writing, listening and speaking practice.

When I teach comparatives I draw a representation of a city on the board that is a circle with the name of a city in it. I then ask students to describe that city. Elicit and write on the board only those adjectives with one or two syllables. Once I’ve elicited a considerable number of adjectives. I draw another circle of a different size and write the name of another city in it. This time ask students to compare the two cities. Write their examples on the board making corrections whenever necessary. Once students have grasped the concept of comparing. Introduce the question.